The Miko Project: The Cure and the New Light
by Roses Kiss
Summary: There was always something strange about a little town in Japan. When the new guys come to Zanly High new advetures unfold and the queen of the school Kagome is pulled into them. The biggest threat against them is actually one of their own... But who?
1. Roza?

_**A/N- Okay this is my new story. Read the other authors note at the bottom if you are confused. Oh and there's one more thing. Thanks Creature of Shadow for helping me with my story and stuff I surely wouldn't have been able to get this story into the right words if you hadn't helped!**_

**x.O.x.O.x.**

**Chapter 1 Kagome's POV**

**x.O.x.O.x.**

17 year old Kagome Higurashi was, and always would be the best there was at Zanly High.

She was popular, she was gorgeous, and she ruled the school. Sports? No problem. Grades? Excellent. Rank: Queen of Zanly High School.

There was one small problem though.

The Two K's. Kikyou and Kagura were the princesses of the school and they held a vendetta towards Kagome for their lack of status. Kagome was nice, quiet, and beautiful. Kikyou and Kagura where slutty, corrupted, gorgeous, and bullies.

**x.O.x.O.x.O.x.O.x**

It was a cool Tuesday in the autumn, me and my group of 'friends' and 'hang-ons' were walking in the parking lot. Ever since I started walking from my house, to the school to get away from the crowd, the effects were the exact opposite. People stopped taking the bus or getting rides just so they could walk with me. Now it seemed that the talking and noise level got even higher.

"Kagome, Kagome? Kagome oh Kami, look at who's in the parking lot!" Yuri demanded.

"I would if I could get past you people!" I grumbled scornfully, as I shoved my way to the front of the staring group.

"Okay, that should be against the rules, nobody should be that hot." People started muttering to each other.

"_Kagome_!" My best friend Sango was heard above the others and also made it clear that she was somewhere in the parking lot.

I pushed my way through the crowd that had formed around me again, and ran to my best friend with my arms open. Sango hugged me as I broke free of the human cage that had encased me, but just as quickly dropped her arms to stare at the new guys.

They both had long silver hair and golden eyes. One was taller, obviously older than the other, and had a much more cold and emotionless expression. The other was more of a reckless looking guy. His face was more solemn then cold and it at least proved he could look happy instead of icy and blank.

"Who are they?" Sango and Kagome both asked.

Kagome's phone went off, and she opened it up to see a text from a number that wasn't in her address book.

_They're ours,_

_-K's_

Two words, one meaning, K's.

"Kagome you okay?" Sango asked. "You're bone white."

I shrugged and cast a glance at the two guys. "Nothing."

"Okay, well I'll be right back. I need to get my bag from my car." Sango said, walking back to her car.

I stared at the mystery hot gods as they walked gracefully away. The taller one said something to the younger brother, and turned around to meet my gaze. He held my eyes captive. I just stared as his eyes looked to be digging through my soul. He finally released me when my phone went off again.

_You fall, I kill. You kiss, I tell._

_-K's_

I turned my back to the mystery guy and reread the message again and again. Ever since the day she found out, she had used it to get what she wanted. But never had she sent so many threats. It had always been one or none on certain days.

I started walking back toward my group, that which was breaking apart because the leader was no longer there. Halfway there I tripped on my own foot and dumped all of my books, pens, and paper out onto the blacktop. I was about to reach down for them, when a pale hand with sharp claw-like nails picked up all the strewn items. I slowly moved my eyes from the place where my stuff had once been and moved them up to look into the face of one of the mystery hunks.

I could feel his breathing on my face and he smelled faintly of an unusual scent that cologne could never make. It was intoxicating though.

Another thing I felt was that he was a youkai. I might not have been fully trained but my miko powers could still feel his demonic aura.

"Miko," The youkai said. "I suggest you be careful, you wouldn't want an accident."

I was entranced in the youkai's eyes, and stared into depths of gold. "No we wouldn't now would we? Who are you?"

"Sesshoumaru, and who are you?"

"Ka-" And my phone started to beep and I flipped it open.

_Elfy, elfy in the night,_

_Sleek and lethal,_

_Killer alright,_

_With eyes so bright,_

_Like a starry night,_

_Elfy, elfy in the night._

_-K's_

More threatening from K's. Great, they must be serious if they tried to make a rhyme with such a stupid word. _Alright_? Really?

I looked up at Sesshoumaru - who had been staring at the text - who then turned his line of vision back to my face, raising a graceful eyebrow. "Elfy, elfy in the night?"

"Uh… It's nothing." I stuttered. "See you around."

I got up, turned my back to him and ran to Sango. But somehow, I ended up in Ayame's embrace.

"Hey Ayame, your finally here!" I said in happily.

Ayame was a wolf youkai and an awesome friend. I was popular, but I only wanted my real friends.

Ayame gave me a hug, and a smile, while eying the new guys carefully. "Ugh, more youkai?"

"Yep, but don't worry. These ones are not evil."

"Okay Kagome…" Ayame said, and then lowered her voice for me only to hear. "Jolietai is waiting for you under the Red Moon to talk to you."

"Thank you, has there been another spree?" I asked.

Ayame nodded as Sango joined us in our chat. "Shopping spree?"

"Yep, I heard that Prada's having a blowout sale and I wanted to go." Ayame chirped. "Shopping extravaganza day!"

"Sounds like fun!" Sango sang back, "Kagome you're coming right?"

"Definitely," I nodded.

"C'mon guys, we're going to be late for class if we don't go inside!" Sango warned as people filed into the building.

We went inside as a group of guys and girls reformed around us and talked about the new guys. The girls raved, the guys envied, and I just wanted to get the day over with.

First, second, third, and fourth hour went by in a blur. I had quite a few classes with one or both of the brothers, and I noticed that they seemed to be very good students. All they did was stare at the board. Well, at least the older one Sesshoumaru did. The younger one already had an envious and raving group around him and was rather reckless. Telling jokes in the middle of class, loudly, and making comments not seeming to care what everyone thought. Inuyasha…. That's what they called him.

When lunch came, my stomach was growling with hunger and I found myself surrounded by people again as I sat down at a table to eat.

Digging into a so called "cheeseburger" and some "fries" I made note to not listen to the bragging of girls and a certain boy I didn't want to know.

All was normal for me as lunch past, and when 6th period rolled by, I thought today might turn out normal. But disaster struck in 7th hour.

The room was quiet,, and a video was playing on Japan's history; wars, founding, and culture. In this classroom, Sesshoumaru was the brother I had to share it with. We sat next to each other by choice of the teacher, and my instincts kept screaming at me. But I ignored them.

The movie dragged on, I rested my head on my arms and sighed. It was taking forever.

I closed my eyes and focused on the bright side, but realized the only bright side was that I didn't have to take a test. I opened my eyes and stared at the classroom, where instead of moaning people, there where statues that looked waxy and fake.

A smirk somehow got plastered on my face as I got up and walked to an open window. Even though I was on the fifth story of a school for all grades, the distance to the ground seemed rather short.

"What happened?" One question. One question that came not from me, a miko that was used to the Red Time, a question that came from a living breathing youkai that had never heard or seen the Red Time.

"Oh nothing, just stay where you are, you'll be fine." I said, and without a second thought, went to the door and closed it slightly, leaving a crack so when I came back I could still get in. I walked down the hall and started running as soon as the door was out of site.

**x.O.x.O.x. Sesshoumaru's POV x.O.x.O.x**

I was shocked as Kagome ran out of the room telling me to stay here with these…. bodies. I opened a window and looked out, trying to see the miko come out, my curiosity growing when she didn't.

I pulled my head back in the room, and from the corner of my eye, I caught the glaring of a light. Then a beautiful woman with midnight black hair ran out of the bushes. She was beautiful, no doubt, but when she ran it was with deadly stealth and grace. She was fast too, but she wasn't a youkai, nor did she look to be a human.

I looked as she jumped from building to building, until I could no longer make out her form or see her gorgeous hair.

I sighed, sat down cringing away from the waxy people and tried to think of the good side to this. Kagome seemed to find this time "fun" because of the way she smiled and ran out the door. Questions stirred in my mind like; is this ever going to end? Am I going to be stuck here forever with the waxy bodies? Why did I move here again?

I sat in that classroom for what seemed like an eternity and when I thought it would never end, several youkai showed up looking through the window at me whispering things to one another. Then they found the open window, and charged in at me, trying to literally rip me head off. I found myself cornered, and even though I was using my youkai whip, they were still overpowering me.

Just when I thought I was going to die, I heard a voice, "OH COME ON!"

The beautiful maiden from before jumped into the building and into my sight, yelling, "Sesshoumaru stop fighting and get out of the way so I don't kill you!" She then shot an arrow with her bow. Most of the youkai were killed with that one arrow, and I started attacking the other youkai.

I stared at her trying, not showing how surprised I was, but when a youkai cursed her it made my blood boil. "You will die someday True Miko. Not by my hand, but by someone else's." And she killed him off.

**x.O.x.O.x. Elf's POV before she found Sesshoumaru x.O.x.O.x.**

Once I was down the stairs and outside, I looked back up to see a youkai had run to the window and see someone come out of the building. I hid from him behind a bush and waited.

I grinned as I thought about the look on his face. He probably thought I was crazy.

Once the silver hair disappeared back into the building, I let go of my barriers to my true form.

Light engulfed me and for a second, I was blinded by it. When my vision cleared, I had much keener senses. Smiling, I noted the elf like points on the tops of my ears, turquoise eyes, and midnight black bang-less hair. My clothes shifted as well. My shirt changing into a white and blue halter top with a modest sweetheart neckline, that clung to my body as it descended showing off my flat, toned stomach. My bottoms were made up of matching blue leggings, over lapped with a wide belt that held all my necessities.

Warmth spread through me, and I knew my magic was coming back from its place in my mind. I searched for any movement, but what happened was completely surprising.

'_Branzy help! There's a youkai and Dark Miko at the hospital and there's not enough True Mikos!'_ A stranger's voice rang in my head.

I immediately ran to the hospital at an inhuman pace and arrived just in time to see a large, ugly youkai pick up a True Miko from the ground and relieve the miko of the top half of her body. Other True Miko still shot at it with their arrows and used magic, but it seemed to just bounce off of him.

Unlike other True Mikos, I was special. I had more power than most, and a special bow that would come to me whenever I commanded. It also turned into a deadly sword. Its name, was Chimeiteki-Keikoku. (English: Deadly-Beauty.)

I called to my bow and arrows, and both appeared in my hands. I whispered to the arrow and caressed it with my magic, magic, letting my magic stay with it. I readied it and aimed at the youkai. Adrenaline coursing through my body, and heart beating fast, I let go off the arrow and watched it fly to find its mark on the youkai's forehead.

The Dark Miko was next.

I ran over to the group that was trying to subdue the evil miko to no success. The Dark Miko looked like a True Miko, except she had black hair and red eyes. She was wearing mainly blacks and purples, with a sword and dagger on her hip. I made an X with my bow in the air, and the part I was holding became a hilt of a beautiful, but deadly sword.

"Die," I hissed to the Dark Miko, and ran to her without even caring that the group was staring in shock. I brought down my sword, but she quickly drew hers and stopped my strike. I moved my sword away from hers and jumped back as she swung at me. Then jumped back to her with my sword ready, bringing it down as she blocked. I jumped over her, took my sword back quickly and brought it down on her shoulder, running it through her back. She gasped and turned around swinging wildly at me. She almost landed a blow on my shoulder, but I jumped over her again. I was about to run my sword through her again, but she turned around before I was to ever before I could attack and attack and she mimicked the gash I gave her on me. It was my turn to gasp, and I turned around and quickly landing a blow on her shoulder.

She winced, looking at me with as much hatred and disgust as possible. With almost startling venom, she said. "Naraku underestimated you True Mikos. Especially you Branzy, I shall be back for your death."

"And when your back, I'll bring a platter to serve your head upon." I growled as she disappeared into thin air.

"Branzy-sama, let us help you!" The other mikos started saying as I winced in pain from my gash.

I smiled to them weakly. "It's quite alright I will heal."

One miko walked toward me with authority in her stance, she was taller than the rest. "Branzy, I beg your forgiveness, you wouldn't be hurt if these girls would have handled themselves correctly."

"It's no big deal," I grinned. "So they assigned you to train the newbies? There's not as many this time."

She sighed. "I know, we are experiencing a lack of True Mikos that are still pure."

"What would happen if I became impure?" I asked.

"You would remain a True Miko, but just not as respected. It would lower your rank."

"Ah, so I wouldn't be respected even if I was happily married and had children?"

"You would be more respected by that, then the other way around." She muttered. "Here let me heal that."

I turned around so she could see my back, and she whispered a few words of magic, healing the wound and repairing my clothing.

"Thank you." I replied.

"It was no problem, but I think you should say one little thing to the newbies to help them with training. I believe they took on a monster too big for them when they should have called for help, and let some more advanced True Mikos and True Monks."

I looked at the True Mikos that seemed to be lollygagging and chatting, and made a noise in my throat that got their attention. "Mikos, I advise you now. From this moment forth all youkai will know of you as their adversary. Your blood is what they will thirst for, and they will do whatever they can to live and have your death at their hands. You must be ready for anything and when there is a job too big, you must know when to back down and call for wiser and stronger assistance. Your friend may be your best, but you can't throw them into battle if you know that they will not succeed. Know your strengths. Your magic is your miko powers, keep that in mind."

"Well done, Branzy." The boss lady said. "You may leave now."

I nodded towards her and grinned in spite of myself. With one graceful bound, I landed on top of a skyscraper, looking for something to do. If that was the only monster that had been sighted, then that meant we would go back to normal in an hour or so. There was never an official time, the higher ranking True Mikos always kept check on the Red Time, and when they estimated it would stop, they contacted us all through our minds.

One annoying thing about being a True Miko is that other mikos could try to get in your head. Another is the fact that a True Miko can be turned into a Dark Miko if their heart is tainted black or they lose their pureness. Though it was rare, a miko that loses pureness can turn into a Dark Miko in the blink of an eye. That is why not many True Mikos were born. People were scared of what might happen, and some don't want to give up a rank or job as a miko. Okay, so there's a lot of annoying things about True Mikos. But the last two most annoying ones are, one; True Mikos are only the souls of a regular miko that fight off the youkai a regular miko couldn't. And lastly, we couldn't touch people who are frozen in the Red Time. I found that out with Kikyou, I accidently brushed her figure as she was frozen, and she woke up just in time to see me kill a youkai. She hung that over my head, threatening to tell ever since.

I ran on the roof making sure not to touch anything and jumped from one to the next until I reached the tallest one in the vicinity. And then I just let go. I let go of my thoughts and jumped off the building into the waiting air.

"WOO-HOO!" I yelled, beaming as I felt weightless. It was a rush for me. Nothing ever happened to me when I did this. I landed on the ground and jumped again just for the fun of it, went up taller than the building beside me and landed on the ground. "Totally the best part of this job." I grinned.

'_Normal Time coming back on in five minutes.'_ A True Miko said in my mind.

I grumbled something about the higher ranks always ruining the fun ,and ran to my school only in time to see a ton of lesser youkai coming in through an open window to the same classroom I was in.

"OH COME ON!" I yelled. I was always the one to get the dirty work of cleaning up the youkai that decided to visit where my scent lead.

_Tick._

I jumped into the building through the window to find Sesshoumaru in a corner with his eyes spotted red and with some kind of youkai whip that he used to kill off most of the youkai.

_Tick._

"Sesshoumaru stop fighting and get out of the way so I don't kill you!" I yelled and shot an arrow with my Chimeiteki-Keikoku that was once again a bow.

_Tick._

Most of the youkai where killed then, and Sesshoumaru ducked out of the way of the arrow. Chimeiteki-Keikoku turned into a sword on its own accord and I started attacking the other youkai.

_Tick._

"You will die someday True Miko. Not by my hand but by someone else's." a youkai cursed me, and I finished off the last of the youkai, ran out the door and transformed into my regular form.

**x.O.x.O.x. Kagome's POV x.O.x.O.x.**

I ran into the room and sat down in my seat with Sesshoumaru following suit.

_Tick._

Normal time kicked in and the movie continued, I stared at the TV when I felt something nudge my arm. I looked over at Sesshoumaru who was staring at a small piece of paper that was folded up. I picked it up and read it.

_Where did you go when you left?_

I grinned and made note to ask if my scent changed when I was in the Red Time.

_I walked around town for a bit, got bored and came back here just in time to see an elf person leave the classroom and tell me to keep quiet._

Sesshoumaru had only eyes for the note, grabbed the pen I was using after I was finished, and wrote quickly.

_Midnight black hair, turquoise eyes, and a sword?_

He glanced at me quickly as I nodded. He drew a picture of an elf and I nodded once again, trying to hide a smirk. I then wrote.

_She saved your life or something didn't she?_

Sesshoumaru looked at the note with a distant expression and then dashed down a few more words.

_Or something._

I let a smirk show this time.

"Excuse me Miss. Higurashi and Mr. Taisho, is there something you'd like to show the class?" Mrs. Gross our teacher interrupted our note passing.

All eyes turned on us, including Kikyou's, who glared at me. I blushed, but Sesshoumaru kept his cool. "No Mrs. Gross, Kagome and I were writing down notes." Sesshoumaru then held up a notepad with a page filled with writing.

"Very good. Now class, take Kagome and Sesshoumaru as an example. They are paying attention." Mrs. Gross said and the tape became the center of attention once again. and eyes moved from us to the teacher and finally to the TV. Only Kikyou's eyes remained on us, and I could almost hear her swearing at me in her mind.

_Silver tongue._

Two words I wrote on a piece of paper and pushed to Sesshoumaru. After that I listened to the teacher, even when the piece of paper came back to me. As the bell rang, I got up and left with Sesshoumaru not to far behind me.

"Will I be able to talk to you again about her? She was so strange, this whole thing is." Sesshoumaru asked me as he caught up.

I turned my head towards him and frowned. "Sometimes it's better not to know things."

"So you won't tell me, will you?" He asked.

I sighed and turned my body fully to him. "If you want to know so badly, why don't you ask her yourself?"

"Because I want to get to know you better."

My eyes got wide as I stared at him… and ran right into a door and fell over. "Ouch."

Sesshoumaru smirked and helped me up. "Meet me after school… I'll walk you home."

"Um… okay… But do you mind waiting? I have soccer practice."

He shrugged. "I don't mind waiting; my brother hardly gets along with me at home so I'll have a reprieve from him."

"Okay I'll see you later." I muttered, knowing there would be consequences. But I didn't care at the moment, and I slipped into the classroom on the other side of my wooden assailant.

**x.O.x.O.x. Sesshoumaru's POV x.O.x.O.x.**

_Okay I'll see you later. Oh, and I don't care about my brother, I just want to watch you all day._ As I thought this, I kicked myself mentally.

People had started gathering to watching Kagome and I talk, and they all seemed awed by the fact that Kagome had the nerve to talk to me. I walked into my next class, and right away, people started grouping around me, talking.

He was popular.

She was too.

She didn't want him.

But other girls did.

He said hello.

She said goodbye.

He fell in love.

She passed him by.

I sighed, and realized how silly it was that I was already in a love with a girl I haven't known for long.

**:-: It's not silly it's perfect. :-:**

'Shut up.' I said back at my beast.

**:-: There is to meaning to 'in love with a girl I haven't known for long'. The elf was as attractive to us as the human. :-:**

'The elf was attractive, but she was strange and foreign.' I sighed mentally.

**:-: But that's half the fun. :-:**

I didn't respond, and my beast remained quiet. Class kept droning on, and when it finally ended, my heart sped up as I realized I would be seeing Kagome again.

8th hour ended and 9th hour or RtI came and I walked into the room.

One look around told me that Kagome was in the class with me sitting at the back table… And Inuyasha was trying to make his move on her.

"So…. Kagome want to hang out sometime?" I heard my hanyou brother ask.

Kagome sighed, and settled her head on her hands she had knit together on the table. "As friends or as in a date?"

"Well," Inuyasha shrugged, "whichever you want it to be."

"Ugh."

"Please?"

"Fine, friend hang out and we will see how that goes." She said closing her eyes.

Inuyasha grinned and turned to me mouthing the word HOT and MINE.

I rolled my eyes at Inuyasha and walked behind Kagome silently I was going to say something to her but then she started mumbling things.

"No, I will not."

There was a pause.

"The newbies can use someone higher rank than myself. Like a mage. I am a fighter and you know that." She murmured.

Pause again.

"Fine. I will _mentor _two people. They will have to be able to keep up on their own."

She opened her eyes again and sighed. "Sesshoumaru, don't think I'm crazy, I'm not. I was just thinking about a talk I had earlier."

"It's fine. Who wants you to mentor people?"

"My mom, she wants me to tutor my cousins." She said simply.

I shrugged. I could see her tutoring. I then gave her a devilish grin. "Think you could mentor me?"

Her head swung around to look at me with wide eyes. "Why would I tutor you Mr. Taisho? You have perfect grades."

"That's not what I was thinking of you tutoring me in." I said huskily, taking my hand and twined a finger in her thick, gorgeous hair.

She gulped, blushing, and I could smell her starting to get aroused. She still smelled of purity, even though there were many rumors suggesting she had bedded many of the boys in the school.

"Um…. I think you'll do just fine with getting mentored with another girl." She muttered before looking down at her desk.

I growled mentally, and released her hair. Why was the girl so stubborn? She was so irritating, but that only drew me closer to her and the mysteries she held. The more I got closer to her, the more danger I was in.

People started to trickle from other groups over to Kagome and me, chatting with us all idly. Kagome said a few things, and it seemed to raise more attention. Soon, all the people were crowded around us and had to yell questions and answers.

"Class sit down! Okay, Mr. Taisho you may sit by Miss Higurashi." Mrs. Belivok, our teacher said.

I grinned at Kagome, who turned her head in my direction within the blink of an eye with wide hazel orbs. I took the seat to the left of her at the table, and looked up at the teacher with an innocent expression, as if I was an angel. The teacher sat down.

"I hope you all brought books, because that's all we shall be doing today." Mrs. Belivok ordered.

Kagome took out a large book titled Breaking Dawn. She turned to a bookmarked page and began reading, rolling her eyes and giggling at some points.

I got out a random book and started looking at it, not really seeing the words. A devilish grin spread over my face again, and I put my hand on my leg testing to see if she was watching me. I watched as her eyes moved from the book to my hand as she pretended to still be involved in the book. I stretched my arm under the table as if I was just trying to get a knot out of my arm and then laid my hand on her leg. Said appendage was instantly gifted with a strange burning sensation, though it was not painful, it was lustful. I would have taken her there right then, if it weren't for the fact I was in a school and hardly knew her.

She let out a half gasp, tried to pass it off as a sigh, and bit on her lip. Her brows furrowed slightly, as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. I moved my hand up more to see her reaction. She gasped finally, but it was so quiet that I had to lean in to hear. She blushed, and swatted my hand away, turning her legs away from me to read her book.

I sighed, turned back to my book, and kept on reading. When the bell rang signaling that class was over, Kagome turned to me, anger written all over her face. "Don't. _Ever_. Do. That. Again."

"Do what?" I asked angelically.

"You know what." She snapped.

"What, this?" I asked as I placed my hand on her leg again, dangerously close to her secret.

She blushed scarlet, and tried to push my hand away, but failed miserably as I grasped her leg. She sighed finally, and stood picking up her stuff as I took my hand off her leg. Without another word, she walked out the door. I followed suit, put my stuff in my locker, grabbed my backpack and slung it over one of my shoulders. I walked out of the hall and down a few more until Kagome's scent was the strongest I saw her walking down the hall towards the girl's locker room. I ran after her and smiled.

"Sorry, my behavior has been very unruly lately." I apologized.

She didn't look at me, but I saw her blush slightly returning. "You and your brother are different in so many ways… but man; you guys have a lot of similarities."

I shook my head, not liking being compared to my younger brother. "I am nothing like my brother."

She rolled her eyes, and looked towards me with a smirk on her face. "Whatever."

We arrived at the door to the girl's locker room, and I stopped walking as she went inside. I went back outside to the soccer fields they had at the high school. I sat in some of the bleachers and waited.

**x.O.x.O.x. Kagome's POV x.O.x.O.x.**

I got into the locker room relieved to be away from the very guy I was supposed to be keeping popularity from. I undressed once I found my small locker, kicked off my shoes, put on a sports bra and a shirt that had the holes where my arms went cut so you could see my toned stomach from the side. The holes went from where it normally went to almost the bottom of it. I pulled on some soccer shorts and shin guards, along with soccer socks and cleats.

When I was finished, all the other girls came in, changed, and we all headed out to the fields. Kikyou was a part of the team and decided to glare at me with as much venom as she could muster for practice. Much to my distaste, Sesshoumaru sat on a bleacher.

"Come on girls." Our male coach yelled, and we all picked up our pace to a jog with me in the lead effortlessly jogging without breaking a sweat. "Okay Yuri, set the equipment over there and when you're done join the girls running. Thirty laps today girls."

I ran in front of the pack of girls who decided that they would just chat today. When coach yelled at them on the second lap, they all decided to race me. I began to run with half my strength and managed to tire them out.

"Hey, you boy!" My coach yelled at Sesshoumaru. "If you're going to sit there at least help the girls run!"

Great.

Sesshoumaru grinned and nodded, getting up. He started running as soon as I came back around for the third lap. He didn't care that I was jogging, he just full out ran trying not to use his youkai speed.

I started running right away and past him up. Then he started to run faster and passed me up. I ran even faster and waved at him as I passed him. Soon we both were running at full speed, youkai against miko. On the last lap I tripped Sesshoumaru, and finished only panting faintly. I collapsed on the ground pretending that it was a tiring run. Sesshoumaru finished and collapsed next to me, staring at my shirt as I breathed in and out heavily.

"Eyes off the merchandise, Sesshoumaru," I snipped at him playfully, sitting up as coach came running towards us.

"Kagome, Sesshoumaru! You just finished thirty laps in about thirty minutes! We could use you guys on the track." Coach exclaimed.

"Gee thanks coach. I think I just want to play on the soccer team for now though." I muttered.

"I'm serious! You could be in it next-," And then he froze and turned waxy. The other people did too.

"Ugh." I groaned.

Sesshoumaru grinned. "I think our favorite elf will be coming soon."

I rolled my eye. "Oh come on Sesshoumaru, don't tell me you're still obsessed with that girl?"

"I am just curious. I swear, Zanly High has brought out the best and worst in me." He replied.

"Hold on a second, I have an idea." I said. "I'm going to go get a surprise hold on. Stay here 'kay? And don't touch the bodies!"

Sesshoumaru shrugged. "Fine."

I got up and ran into the school, checking behind me to make sure he was still completely unaware and not following. I closed the door and looked around trying to find the perfect excuse of a surprise, ended up picking a bottle of soda up, running outside throwing it at Sesshoumaru, and running back in.

**x.O.x.O.x. Branzy's POV x.O.x.O.x**

I changed into my True Miko form, and jumped out a window on the opposite side of the school from Sesshoumaru. I took one last look at him to see him standing up and staring at the sky. I looked up to see at least a hundred youkai flying towards my team mates, coach, and Sesshoumaru.

"Ugh, always me," I sighed.

I decided not to report it because I want to see what the tame inu had in him.

"Yo Sesshoumaru! Don't just stand there, fight!" I yelled at him, running towards the swarm of oncoming youkai.

I summoned my bow and arrows and fired an arrow at the swarm, diminishing its size by half. I stopped fighting and looked to Sesshoumaru, who had started attacking youkai with his strange whips, sometimes using his claws that now were coated with green acid. His eyes where tinted red again, and he kept fighting until all the weak youkai were dead.

"See Iioku, I told you she was just as lazy as we are!" A boy's voice was heard from behind a bush.

"Shut up Kahn! They'll hear you!" another male voice yelled back.

I picked up a rock, and looked around already knowing where the boys were. I waited until I heard giggling, and threw the rock through the brains of the numskulls who called me lazy. Well it didn't exactly go through their hard heads… But it hit them hard enough to make them shut up.

"Get out here!" I demanded.

"Yes ma'am." They said soberly, coming out from behind the bushes.

I walked over to them as they hung their heads, and I took note that they both had some of the same features in a different order though. One had very pale, almost white blonde hair, with a streak of red running through it. While the other had red hair with a pale blonde streak through it. They both were the same height, and had same colored milky brown eyes.

"And you're the novices?" I huffed, then said quietly to myself. "I thought I asked for someone who could hold their own too."

"Yes ma'am. We are here to watch you fight, and learn." The boy with the blonde hair and red streak said. He had the same voice from the first one heard from behind the bush, so I was guessing that he was boy named Kahn.

That meant the other boy was Iioku, who muttered to Kahn. "We already fight like her. All you have to do is let a youkai kill the others, sit back and claim it was you who killed it."

"Iioku, come over here." I said sweetly.

"Busted." Kahn smirked at Iioku as he walked to me.

I smiled at him, wrapped an arm around his shoulder,, and took my other hand to place it on his shoulder. In one simple movement I had Iioku on his knees with his head touching the ground behind him, then fixed it so he was lying with his head looking at his pelvis.

"Hmm… you should be more flexible than this." I mumbled as his face contorted in pain.

"I didn't mean to… I'm sorry. Please just stop!" He said with pain creeping into his voice as he began to pant.

I let go of him and looked at Kahn. "If you wish me to teach you then you must stretch and run every day."

He nodded and gave each other a nervous look. "Yes ma'am."

"Now, do you have weapons?" I asked.

"No ma'am." They both sighed, hanging their heads thinking I would punish them.

"Good." I said, and commanded my bow and arrow to disappear back into my body.

"What?" They asked astonished.

I shrugged. "I learned to fight starting with hand to hand."

"Even though I would love to hear the lectures, I want to ask a few questions." Sesshoumaru cut in.

"Keep your mouth shut." I shot glares at Sesshoumaru, and then I sighed and looked at the two boys again. "I'm sorry if I lose patience. I have been alive for three hundred years and I still haven't reached adulthood."

Both of the boys and Sesshoumaru looked shocked. "How did you manage to remain pure so long?"

"Well," I said blushing, "I never fell in love… Plus haven't you seen the ancient True Mikos and Monks?"

"No… we're not high enough rank to be able to attend any of the balls or meetings." Both the True Monks said.

"Sesshoumaru, you may join us today to help kill off some of the monsters, but I'm warning you. One outburst or anything, and I will pound your face in so hard you will have to get surgery to be able to sit on a chair ever again."

He shrugged. "I don't mind standing."

"Shut it." I glared at him and beckoned to the boys to follow. "Follow me."

I ran away from the school with the boys following a few yards behind, and Sesshoumaru farther away than that. First building I saw, I jumped up on, landed on the roof and kept running. Jumping building to building. Once I lost sight of the boys, I stopped running and turned around to see Sesshoumaru coming up to the building I was on with Iioku in his arms.

I ran to Sesshoumaru and looked down at the stunned boy. "That was so…. COOL! Let's do it again!"

I rolled my eyes at the boy and flicked him on the nose. "Come on weirdo, let's go."

Iioku hopped out of Sesshoumaru's arms as a grinning Kahn bounded up to the roof. "I told you it would be fun."

"Kahn!" I warned.

Immediately Kahn looked down at his suddenly interesting feet. "Sorry ma'am."

"Come on boys, no more rough housing." I groaned.

"Okay, let's go!" Iioku said, as he started running full speed to the edge of the building and jumping onto the next ever so clumsily.

I rolled my eyes as Kahn copied Iioku, and I was about to jump to the next building when two strong arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back to the building.

"What do you want Sesshoumaru?" I asked with malice seeping in my voice.

"Who are you?" Sesshoumaru asked leaning in slightly and sniffing.

I stiffened, and a low hiss came from my mouth as Sesshoumaru's scent hit my nose. "Who are you? Tell me and I might tell you." I asked even though I already knew who he was.

"I am Sesshoumaru. Now tell me who you are." He said, teasingly pushing my hair back and sniffing the crook of my neck, his nose touching my skin.

"I am Branzy." I muttered angrily, trying to push him off. "Get off me!"

Sesshoumaru stopped smelling my neck and let go of me, setting me on the ground. I glared at him and he shook his head at some private joke he must have been thinking.

"Why do you wear such revealing clothing? It does not help for battle." He asked.

"What, are we playing Twenty Questions?" I retorted, rolling my eyes. "I wear these clothing because I am a warrior, not made to die easily."

"You still aren't prepared for battle. What if you battle someone as strong as you?"

"I am strong. I will never die by the hand of some youkai or Dark Miko."

Sesshoumaru gave off some kind of growl at that, and jumped after the boys. I was hot on his trail, with the silence creeping into my body. I started to realize how lonely I really was… and how much Sesshoumaru was right about the armor. It was really showy and it left me vulnerable. What happened to armor and other safety stuff?

After a long time of running around, we finally stumbled upon a lesser youkai and a Dark Miko. The Dark Miko was the same one I had seen last time. I instantly thought about forgetting to bring a platter, but tossed that thought aside.

"Hey look, it's the same Dark Miko from yesterday." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Ugh, it's the same True Miko from yesterday." The Dark Miko snapped back. "I figured that you would have died by someone else's hand already."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean Mrs. I-Lost-My-Purity-And-I-Turned-Evil? Wow that's a mouth full."

"Will you just _shut up_ and fight me?" said the annoyed Dark Miko.

"Um… let me think about that for one second… Yes!" I got into a crouch ready to pounce or resist. "Now boys pay attention."

The Dark Miko didn't even acknowledge the True Monks and youkai. She was all eyes for me. I smirked at her; clearly she hadn't had enough training to know that you had to be aware of all your surroundings. I waited for her to come, but she just stood in the same crouch as I did. Maybe she learned something from the last time she saw me.

"Chimeiteki-Keikoku," I whispered, and my bow and arrows came into place on my back. I grabbed my bow and readied an arrow in it, watching the Dark Miko cautiously.

She watched my every move with her blood red eyes, testing to see if she could find my weak point. We were staring each other down, measuring each other to see who would win.

"_I am strong. I will never die by the hand of some youkai or Dark Miko."_

Even though I said that only a few minutes ago, it still had the same sharpness. I would never be killed by a Dark Miko. I swore it to myself.

"Just fight already!" I yelled finally, and the Dark Miko pounced.

She made a ball of dark magic and shot it at me. I sent my own ball of pure magic at it. They both hit each other, with mine overpowering hers, destroying it, and rushing at the Dark Miko.

'Geez. I should just name every move I have so I don't have to keep thinking, 'Oh look there goes it! Oh look it killed it!'' I thought lazily as my attack hit the Dark Miko's side and flew her back several feet.

The Dark Miko winced and glared at me, holding her side while blood streamed in a steady flow down her body.

"Wow, you are weak." I muttered rolling my eyes.

"True Miko. Die." She said with as much venom as she could get in her voice without pain seeping through. She disappeared as she let out a blast of power that was bigger and stronger than any I had seen from a Dark Miko.

I ran at the boys and Sesshoumaru, who had been watching from the sidelines, landed in front of them and pushed their heads down while holding onto their bodies. Pushing them towards me because I thought they were safer in my arms, Sesshoumaru's head was pressed up against my breast, and I felt him smirking. Immediately, I smacked him. Then, sending my own powerful blast at the Dark Miko's death wish for me. Mine was like a wild fire eating up everything in its path, including the Dark Miko's power blast. The lesser youkai was killed in the blast, and its insides went everywhere. Including on me. But the boys got away nice and dry.

"Ewww!" I yelled, releasing Sesshoumaru and the boys, shaking myself like a dog. Junk went flying everywhere.

Sesshoumaru smirked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Why'd you throw me off? I was quite happy where I was."

"Shut up!" I scolded him. "There are _children_ here and they don't need any ideas!"

"Fine, I won't give them any ideas." He said his smirk gone until a thought struck him and then he grinned. "But I will keep mine in mind."

I looked up to the clouds and held my hands to my heart. "Oh Kami, please help me."

'_Branzy, don't kill the Dark Miko you are facing. Come to us under the Red Moon, we have some interesting things for you to try out. Red Time is over in about a half hour.'_

Iioku and Kahn both looked pretty surprised, and turned to look around. I giggled and made a small sound in the back of my throat to get their attention. "Don't worry, it's just the nerds telling us it's almost time for Red Time to stop."

"Should we go back to where we were?" They all asked.

I shrugged. "Sure, I need to make sure you're safe when you get there."

Kahn and Iioku were about to jump off the roof and onto the next one when I pulled them both out of the air staring at something… shining. I landed back down on the roof, tugged the boys back on it and jumped into the air after releasing them. My eyes were locked on where that shiny thing had once been. I jumped roof to roof looking down below, and finally jumped off a roof to the ground, picking up a pink jewel that glowed slightly.

My eyes widened as I realized what it was. In all my wasted years of school, I finally held something in my hand that was worth it all, and I had been a part of its history. "The Shikon No Tama."

I got up and looked it over carefully. I closed my eyes and sighed with a sad smile on my face. Hopefully, just hopefully, the True Miko nerds would destroy this before its history came back to haunt us all.

I felt the weight leave my hand, along with the sound that you got when metal hit metal. My eyes flashed open again to see the jewel break, and the pieces go everywhere including into my skin and sink in before I could get them out. Instead of breaking where you could find the pieces, it was like the pieces went flying this way and that in the sky or in the ground. It didn't matter.

"You should be more careful how you hold things, child." An icy voice sneered.

I moved my eyes from the place where a single shard had gone into my skin, to a hanyou who had black hair and red eyes like Dark Mikos and Dark Monks.

"How could you do that?" I whispered. "I thought I killed you years ago."

"Three hundred to be exact, True Miko." Naraku smirked. "That's what your new hybrid race is now, isn't it?"

"Damn you, Naraku." I whispered.

"Not yet." Naraku said and disappeared.

"Branzy!" Sesshoumaru yelled coming into view. "Are you okay?"

"No." My only words I could speak.

Disaster, the Shikon No Tama was back. Dreadful, I would have to find the shards again. Horrific, Naraku was back.

I felt the weight of the whole thing all over again. The memories, the problems, everything. It was too much. _I am only a True Miko. I can't handle all this again_.

And so I fainted.

**x.O.x.O.x.**

I woke up with someone shaking my shoulders telling me to wake up. I looked at Sesshoumaru and almost laughed. If it weren't for his expression, I would have. I was laying on the ground outside the school and I noticed I was human again. I stared at Sesshoumaru with my hazel eyes and smiled.

"Ma'am are you okay?" Sesshoumaru asked, his voice laced with confusion and concern.

"She'll be fine Sesshoumaru. She probably is just a little weak now." Kagome murmured to him.

I sat up quickly and moved away from Kagome, who was going to help me sit up. Hazel on hazel, we stared at each other.

Kagome and I looked the identical, except I was older looking and turned into a True Miko. She was young and did not. The reasons obvious.

Her eyes widened, and she finally remembered me. "Roza?"

"Kagome, whatever Jolietai says. It's your choice." I got up, and ran away as fast as my legs could take me.

**x.O.x.O.x. Kagome's POV x.O.x.O.x.**

_She was real after all these years? I thought she was just a dream… What happened?_

"Come on Kagome, we need to get back to soccer practice." Sesshoumaru said.

"Yeah…" I agreed.

We went back to the soccer field and when we were both in the positions we had been in, Red Time seemed to stop and real time kicked in.

"-Year! Are you sure you don't want to try out at least?" My coach continued his conversation from before Red Time had kicked in.

"No coach it's okay." I replied.

Soccer practice continued normally, Sesshoumaru walked me home as promised, but didn't say much. He said he'd talk to me later; I accepted that and went to bed early that night. Thoughts running crazy through my head, and when the Red Moon finally came up at twelve o'clock that night I sighed in relief and sat up on my bed staring out my window for a moment.

Red Time here I come.

**x.O.x.O.x. A/N x.O.x.O.x.**

**Okay here's my new story. I hope you like it because I certainly do and it's nothing like I've seen before! No bad reviews but make sure to comment please!**


	2. Enter Dark Miko Rin

_**A/N- Okay so we left off with the anxious Kagome in her bedroom and the Red Moon finally came up. Please review, no flames! And as promised secrets will be made and revealed!**_

**x.O.x.O.x.**

**Chapter 2 Kagome's POV**

**x.O.x.O.x.**

I crawled out of my bed, felt my way to the door and opened it quietly. Even though everyone was frozen, I still took precautions. Once, I saw my mother downstairs frozen like a wax doll, and decided after that that I didn't want to see my family in statue form. So I always kept the lights off, that way all I could see was their silhouette.

Tonight however it seemed they must have all stayed in bed because I didn't run into anyone or any_thing_. I got to the door and pulled on some running shoes. I opened the door and stepped out into the night. The still air was unsettling, and it made me feel strangely isolated.

Nobody other than the different species of mikos and youkai could know or be in the Red Time, and there weren't many miko left. Youkai weren't as rare, but were still uncommon. Most youkai never really new about the Red Time, unless there was already an active Red Time going on in a certain area.

Why was Red Time called Red Time? Because the Red Moon had always been blood red and caused everything else to look a soft color of rose.

I heard someone sighing. I lost my train of thought and quickly looked around to see what had made the noise.

The creator of the sound leaned against the side of my house, his golden eyes staring, no burrowing into mine.

"I want to know everything." Sesshoumaru said finally after an awkward silence.

"Sesshoumaru, I need to go talk to Jolietai." I sighed moving my eyes to the red sky. "When… When I get back I'll try to explain."

I brought my eyes back to his face to see him with a thoughtful expression. "Promise me you won't get yourself killed."

"I won't get myself killed.(As if.)" I said rolling my eyes.

I left Sesshoumaru there, knowing he was watching me walk away. The trip to the lake out in the countryside was long. When I walked off the gravel road and onto the cobblestone path, my stomach started doing excited flips. Jolietai only requested to see me when something thrilling about to happen and I either got to join or watch.

As the minutes went by, I became more antsy. Soon I was counting my steps to try and calm down but it didn't seem to work. The trees, bushes, and other green things all disappeared behind me suddenly. Before me was a lovely thriving lake just big enough to put a boat or two in, which was exactly what was in it. Flowers and grass grew around it and the rocky shore was plenty clean. Hardly any water grass was seen in the clear pool of blue.

"Jolietai, I'm here!" I said with a smile. I went down the water's edge and stared into the liquid azure depths.

"Kagome." A female voice whispered beside me as I watched the reflection of the beautiful True Miko Jolietai in the water.

"Hey Jolietai," I responded.

"Anything happen since the last time I saw you?"

"Um… not really,"

"So no boys, friends, or boyfriends?" She asked a corner of her mouth tugging upwards.

"Um…" I blushed changing the subject. "Why did you ask me to meet you here, Jolietai?"

"To warn you of what the future has in store for you."

I looked up in shock, and tensed. "What?"

"Roza is going to die."

Again I was taken aback. "But if she dies…"

"Her mortal-self will die too." She finished for me. "Do you know who her mortal-self is?"

"I-I don't think I do." I stuttered already knowing the answer but not wanting to believe the truth.

"Roza has been in many mortal-selves. None of the… _mortals_ were good enough to contain her wild soul, except for two."

"Me." I stated, already knowing that fact but I was still puzzled over the other person. I had a wild side, but few people saw it and that was mainly why most guys were attracted to me. They thought I was mysterious and different. They knew I was hiding something and so they all tried to open the door to find me out. I never told anyone and that just enticed people even more.

Then suddenly it hit me like a tidal wave and I gasped. _She_ was wild most of the time, _she_ could hide her own secrets but not others, and _Kikyou_ was not pure. "Kikyou."

"Yes, Kikyou was her first choice but Kikyou was impure and so Roza said no to her body." Jolietai muttered with her eyebrows furrowed in thought. "But that was before she met you."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Roza chose you as soon as she saw you." She replied her eyes gleaming now with joy. "And so she took your soul and body and entwined your future and destiny with hers'."

Silence overpowered them again and I started twisting the hem of my shirt with a nervously.

"Roza isn't very young is she?" I asked suddenly.

"She is about… three or four hundred years old, but somehow she is still not mature."

"Oh."

I huffed and touched the water lightly with my fingertip, thinking about the conversation. "You are warning me of her impending death, so you must know of a way I can survive after she passes."

"Yes."

I waited for her to continue, but when she said nothing I started getting a little irritated. "Well?"

"What? Oh wait I remember. You must part your soul of hers and when Roza dies - which will happen - you will not die with her."

"How do you know she'll die?" I asked and added an afterthought. "How do I accomplished separating our souls?"

Jolietai smirked and tapped her temple with her finger. "I just know things. And to part yourself of her all you need to do is go to the Scientists."

Scientists, I found out, were a type of True Miko and True Monks that instead of fighting against youkai, locked themselves away in some place to study the Red Time and other things. They were always in their true forms when the Red Time kicked in, but when Normal Period came into play they were regular everyday workers with slacker jobs. Somehow they always had the most money.

"Why is Roza so important?" I muttered.

Jolietai answered slowly. "Zula."

"What?" I asked utterly confused.

No response.

"The Scientists are were you least expect it, just follow your nose. Now go," Jolietai commanded, disappearing into the breeze.

"Stupid True Miko and their fancy magic stuff." I muttered to myself halfheartedly.

I walked back to the trees that never had really disappeared, and cast a glance once again at the glistening lake.

I was true

She was not

I was living

She was a soul

I loved the world

She wasn't a part of it.

I strolled into woods with my arms behind my head and my eyes closed. My feet recognized the trail and followed it. I opened my eyes and stopped walking once my feet hit the pavement, and turned to see the same road I had come from before going into the timber. I walked slowly , not really caring if I was wasting my Red Time because too many thoughts spun around in my head.

About three things I was absolutely sure of.

One: Roza was going to die. I don't know when or how, but I don't want to be around for it.

Two: I would die with her if I didn't split our souls. I would have to see the Scientists about that.

And three: I had a feeling that one of these wasn't going to happen.

I put my arms down to my sides and slowly turned my head.

_Snap._

There it was again.

I faced the treeline and crouched in a defensive position, backing up. _Click._ I backed up faster, turned, and ran as fast as I could.

"Come and play my little miko!" A crocodile-looking youkai laughed as he came out of the woods protection.

I ran, not even turning back again to see the youkai as I heard it coming after me at a quick pace. I looked in all directions except the youkai's screaming for help from a True Miko, a youkai. Anything.

I knew it would happen before it did. The crocodile whipped his tail at my legs. I fell over and the youkai literally pinned me to the ground by sitting on me. The youkai bit into my neck and didn't let go. I was waiting for the death roll like I'd seen crocodiles do on TV when they were trying to kill there prey. My whole body turned ridged, I closed my eyes tightly and my breathing seemed to stop.

Suddenly I was encased in a blue glow. When it disappeared, I stood up. The pain in my neck where the youkai's jaws had once been was decreasing greatly but still there as I stared the crocodile youkai in the eye. Whatever happened to my body felt foreign and I didn't like it too much.

"Why aren't you dead?" The youkai asked in frustration.

"Because I promised to live." A voice responded that was not my own.

I drew my bow and arrow and readied it aiming right between the crocodiles eyes.

Wait when did I get a bow and arrows?

I released the arrow and since the crocodile was used to being in the water he was slow on land. Thus, the arrow hit him exactly where I wanted it to. The crocodile fell to the ground, let out a choked roar, and disintegrated.

"You are lucky I came Kagome." The voice that wasn't mine said.

"Leave my body Roza. I thank you for saving me, but I wish to be myself." I said firmly.

"Very well, I shall leave your person."

I sighed in relief as the foreign part of me disappeared, but then I felt sort of drained of energy. That didn't stop me. I ran down the road not wanting another run-in with a youkai. When I arrived back at my house, Sesshoumaru was in the same place I left him.

"What happened to you?" He asked concern laced in his voice as as he saw the teeth marks on my neck.

"It's a long story." I muttered.

"I think I can keep up." He replied.

And so I told him the entire story. Not even leaving out the part where Roza was going to die.

"Well, we better get going then." He said after I finished my explanation.

"Problem is, I don't know where the Scientists are." I replied sheepishly.

He tapped his nose and smirked. "Come here."

I tried to think of a reason that would keep me from going over to him, but found none. It wasn't like he was like the class pervert Miroku.

"Fine." I huffed, and walked over to him as slow as I could. He wrapped an arm around my legs, took them out from underneath me and let my body fall backwards until I was dangerously close to hitting my head on the ground. He stopped my descent to the ground and grinned as he held me closer to him.

"Jerk." I muttered, glaring halfheartedly.

He took to the sky on a youkai cloud and sniffed in the breeze lightly before changing course to the southeast.

**x.O.x.O.x. Roza a.k.a. Branzy's POV x.O.x.O.x.**

After I pulled out of Kagome's body, I decided to visit the 'Scientists'.

A large rundown barn came into view as I ran down an old country road. I stopped in front of it and looked around the courtyard. The old well sat in the front of the yard looking even more crumbly than ever. I strolled over to it and jumped inside. My feet didn't hit ground, but a blast air pushed me into a tunnel dug into a side of the well.

When I could finally see without having to use my night vision, I was in a waiting room with about seven receptionists busily tending to other True Mikos and Monks.

"Hello Branzy, how may I help you?" a male receptionist asked from one of the many desks bowing his head respectfully.

"Umm… I'm going to take a guess and say the head Scientist asked me to come." I muttered. I never really did understand who wanted me to show up.

"Right this way. Mrs. Laurent has been waiting for you for a while now. She figured that you would be here right after Red Time came on." The receptionist said as he got up from his seat.

I was a little shocked that the head scientist was a Mrs. because normally impure True Miko where downgraded. This one seemed higher up. But what the hay, I could always be a nerd if I ever became impure.

Tossing that thought aside, I glanced at his desk to see his name in bold letters on his name tag. Nikko.

Nikko lead me to another room, this one was much larger, had much more people in it and was very noisy. Machines, robot-looking things, and other sorts of technology was in the room. It was so crowded that I had to suck in my gut just to slip around people. A stern looking woman with short red hair came to my attention because she was taking her time harping at a man working one of the screens. He kept typing vigorously on the large pad and touched the screen to different options so fast I could only keep up by using my True Miko eyes to their full extent.

She pointed at me suddenly. "What are you doing standing around? Go do something! Les needs help with the nitch, go help him!"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't work here. I came to speak to Mrs. Laurent."

Nikko gave me a mirrored expression of the woman's and announced. "This is Mrs. Laurent. Mrs. Laurent, this is Branzy."

"What? Oh, come with me. I have something to discuss with you about the Dark Miko force." Mrs. Laurent practically shouted over the noise as it seemed to rise.

"Jaklien, Jaklien! We have done it!" A rather tall True Monk said running through the crowd towards us his, face beaming.

"Has it worked? Do we have the cure?" She asked urgently.

Whatever '_it_' was must have been important because Mrs. Laurent grabbed my arm and pulled me into another room.

This one had test tubes and other liquid substances that looked as if they could move.. Along with the many machines to process the liquids, were many cages. The cages held a variety of things from rare Red Time creatures, to humans frozen in the Red Time. I shivered slightly, not wanting to think about what they did to those poor humans.

At the very back of the room,sat an extra strong cage. The heavy metal was thicker than the other cages and had another layer of metal lay below it, along with some kind of protection ward against whatever dangerous creature lurked inside.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"Well, I believe she was a Dark Miko, last time I checked, but let's find out what she is now." Mrs. Laurent muttered busily putting on gloves and picking up a cane.

"Uh… okay?" I willed my sword to appear and I grasped the hilt.

"If anything happens, we don't want to kill her, just knock her out!" She said in surprise as I drew my sword.

"Alright then, I'll just hit her with the hilt." I muttered scornfully,putting my sword into my belt but grasping the handle just in case.

Mrs. Laurent signaled her workers for something and then motioned for me to follow. We walked to the door of the cage which opened immediately, as did the one after it. When I stepped into the cage I sensed a strange presence, one I was not used to.

On further examination of the cage, it seemed more livable for a human or Dark Miko. A bed lay in one corner where someone slept and the floor was carpet. An empty tray was on a desk and a chair was beside it.

"Dark Mikos can be tamed if they are drugged. They still have the urge to destroy and kill, but you'll be safe. Her strength isn't as great as it would be if she was still free." Mrs. Laurent said as she rolled her eyes.

I didn't say anything, but when she went over to the bed I almost thought about throwing her out of the cage and killing whatever was under those blankets with the unusual aura.

She pulled over the covers, and a little girl with brown hair woke up.

"What the heck!" I said shocked. "How the _hell_ did _she_ become a _Dark Miko_?"

Mrs. Laurent's voice lowered and she solemnly said, "Her father was involved in a gang and _they_ raped her when he didn't give them the money he owed."

"Oh my…" I didn't finish the sentence as the girl sat up and looked at me curiously with her chocolate brown eyes. "Hello?"

"Hi…" the little girl said shyly as she looked around like she had finally woken up from a long nap to find herself in a different place then where she last was. "I'm Rin."

My eyes softened and hatred filled my heart for whoever did this to the poor girl. "I'm Branzy, nice to meet you."

"Yes." She replied getting off the bed slowly and stepping onto the floor, wobbling like a newborn giraffe.

"Ah-ha, it did work!" Mrs. Laurent said looking like she could do the happy dance at any moment.

"What did?" I asked raising my eyebrow.

"Antiloturplun," She said proudly.

"Anti-blah blah de blah? What's that?" I asked annoyed that I couldn't even say the word.

"It's almost like a DNA. We harvest it from True Miko and humans that wished to dedicate their bodies to science before they died. Although it seems simple, the one who hosts Antiloturplun is at a risk at all times. They might not eat or they might over eat, and may get certain diseases that make their digestive tract reject certain foods. They will always have a 104.8 or higher fever, their strength will be depleted and they will be bedridden. Breathing will get harder and they may develop lung disease or severe asthma, and their heart will either fail or work a lot harder."

"The living dead." I muttered a shiver going down my spine from the pictures conjured up in my mine. "Have any of the hosts survived?"

"None so far." She said automatically.

"Isn't there something else you can use instead of killing people to save others?" I asked. "And how many people does it take to make a dosage?"

"Well there is something… but you must get past the gate called the Shi no Shi, the gates that separate the world of the living from the dead of Hell. It is a terrible place and a difficult journey, but if you make it past the gates you must go to the garden of the Flower Maiden. Once you are on your way towards the garden, you will be challenged with three obstacles. The ferocious dragon of Death and Life. The Illusions which are lights that dance and twinkle while they whisper things to you and cause you to have delusions. And last but not least, the Flower Maiden herself along with her husband Shi." She explained. "Thirty-five people were used to make one drop of Antiloturplun and that was enough for this young lady. We keep coming out with different things every time we try. Last time, the Dark Miko looked normal ,but she had a tainted heart still. Opposite of that for the next, and then there was the one who turned into a regular human. And there was also the other one who died because-,"

"As much as I would love to listen to you babbling on about the outcome of stuff all day, I still want to know about Rin, and how could the Flower Maiden still be pure?" I cut into her speech.

"I have no idea but she is still pure. And as for Rin, go ahead." Mrs. Laurent said.

"Rin, are you okay? Do you feel different at all?" I asked turning my attention back to Rin.

"No, Rin feels fine. I just want to know where I am why I am in a cage." The little girl said quietly.

"Because you were a Dark Miko, and we wanted you to turn back into a regular True Miko again because I don't think someone would want to kill a-" I cut myself off snapping a hand onto my mouth so I couldn't continue.

"Kill what, Branzy?" Rin asked, her eyes curious.

"Never mind, it was nothing." I mumbled.

"I know you're busy but I was wondering if you could do me a small favor…" Mrs. Laurent said, sounding almost ashamed.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could take Rin back to your home and raise her to be a strong True Miko. I know you are already mentoring two newcomers but we really could use her, the True Miko and Monk population is diminishing rapidly." She said so quickly I almost couldn't catch it.

"Uh… sure?" I think I replied, but I wasn't so sure myself.

"Great! So all I need you to do is sign some papers, get a gun, go to your home and bring her with you!" She said happily clapping her hands once.

"Okay – Wait a gun?" I asked bewildered.

"Yeah!" She said smiling way to happily while rubbing the back of her head with her hand. "We don't know what will happen because like I said, we always have different outcomes! She could possibly turn into a Dark Miko again at any moment! Oh, and I want you to keep a log on her. See what you can dig up from when she was a Dark Miko!"

"Why didn't you _TELL ME THAT EARLIER_?" I demanded my eye dangerously close to twitching.

"Well, we figured that you wouldn't except if you knew first! But now that you've agreed, you can't go back… on Miko's Honor."

"You were just trying to corner me into this deal weren't you?" I asked sighing.

"Well, we wouldn't call it _cornering_…"

"Whatever, where are the papers?" I said in defeat.

"Right this way." Mrs. Laurent muttered as she left the cage.

I followed after her, but paused at the door. I looked back at the girl who had her head turned away from me, and as she glanced at me again, I saw a glint of red in her eyes.

I smiled at her reassuringly. "See you later."

"Bye…" She muttered staring at my fleeing body.

I followed after Mrs. Laurent as she arrived at a huge desk with papers piled high. She dug through a few stacks and finally found what she was looking for. She made me sign about fifty times it seemed like, but in the end, the upside was that I didn't have to pay.

She handed me a gun while looking at me in the eye as she did. "Take care."

I turned away from her and hid the gun in my pack that wrapped around my waist. Someone brought Rin back and the little girl had handcuffs around her wrist.

"Leave her alone, I can take it from here." I demanded hating the terrified look in Rin's eyes.

The guards took the cuffs off of her, but the men still looked pretty worried. I held out my hand to her. Rin looked at it suspiciously before she placing her hand in mine. I smiled at her warmly and lead her through the crowd and back outside.

She didn't say a word until she knew we were out of earshot. "Why were they staring at me so nervously?"

"They are just not used to people who aren't brain-eating zombies." I teased.

I was rewarded for my efforts with a giggle. "They always used such long words that I didn't understand. It kind of freaked me out."

"Yeah, they can be a little too smart for us normal people." I said.

"Why did they have me in a cage?" Rin inquired.

"What, are we playing Twenty Questions?" I mused using the same excuse as I did for Sesshoumaru.

"Is that a game?" She muttered.

My eyebrows furrowed a moment as I looked at her. "Yeah, for a while now… How long have you been frozen?"

"A thousand years."

My eyes widened. Surely after that long she should have been an adult. I felt terrible for her, she had seen more things than I had and most were not good. "I see."

"THERE SHE IS, GET HER!"

Instantly, hands grabbed onto me. I looked at five men in shock as they put cuffs on my wrist.

I used full force to headbutt whoever was holding me. They let go and crumbled to the ground. I turned towards the other three, glared, and kicked them where the sun doesn't shine.

Rin screamed to whole time, afraid of what she was seeing and what she thought it was.

While they were doubled over in pain, more men came. I could fend most of them off, but when their numbers got up into the thirties, I faltered. I tried to kick one of the men, but he was quicker than I guessed and grabbed my leg. I tried to pull it back but more people grabbed it.

Well, there goes my bad-ass attitude.

I was forced to the ground and when they finally had me cuffed my legs and arms could hardly move. That's right, they hand cuffed a warrior. More like leg cuffed.

They lead me back inside and I cast a glance at Rin as somebody held her back.

"Don't touch her or I will kill you!" I screamed.

Automatically, hands dropped from Rin and she stood frozen.

They dropped me inside the well following after. When I hit the floor my arms were seized once again. I was lead to some big fancy machine and they dropped me in front of it.

Mrs. Laurent stood over in the corner with _Kagome_.

Once she got done talking she nodded and walked over to me only to widen her eyes. "You're Kagome's True Miko?"

I glared at her and spat. "What are you doing with me?"

"That is certified information." Mrs. Laurent said making her face emotion free.

"I am a _warrior_; I can know whatever I want." I bit back.

"I still can't tell you." She muttered, motioning for something.

I was picked up and thrown inside the contraption while Kagome stepped in the other side.

I banged against the door as hard as I could and then there was light.

**x.O.x.O.x. Kagome's POV x.O.x.O.x.**

My door was flung open after the flash of light. Had that been it? I didn't feel any different. I looked at the door expecting to see Roza come out.

"Kagome, I'm sorry." Mrs. Laurent muttered.

"What?" I asked.

Sesshoumaru stepped forward. "Branzy busted out of the machine before the bond could be broken."

"Hold on, why didn't you hit the button as soon as I got in?" I wondered aloud.

"Because some of us saw her and went into shock." Mrs. Laurent countered. "Plus she has somebody to take care of."

"Some…body to take care of?" I questioned shocked.

"Yes, she adopted a little girl today. She is a very special little girl, her name is Rin and she used to be a Dark Miko."

"Wow." I murmured.

Suddenly the same feeling as before took over me, the feeling of being too full of myself.

I glared at Mrs. Laurent, then at everyone else that had forced me into the machine or into the well. "You try to steal my body, and you try to separate myself from the mortal I picked. I took Rin in, and yet you still want to test me."

"I-I'm sorry Branzy." Mrs. Laurent stuttered backing away.

I shook my head. "You are lucky I have a big heart. I shall go, but I will show no mercy if I see any of you trying to recapture me or touch _her _again."

It was pretty clear who _her_ was. Rin was just a little girl afterall. She didn't deserve to see all of this, even though she had been turned into a Dark Miko the disgusting way at such a young age.

And with that Roza left my body.

"Ouch," I muttered as I got a pounding headache and the edges of my vision began to blur as exhaustion swept over me.

Mrs. Laurent took a few hesitant steps towards me and said. "Don't be surprised if you act different after today. Branzy's moods will affect you too."

"Kami."

"WHAT?"

"She is a Kami." A lady said with a name tag on her shirt; Fran.

I gasped.

"She is the Kami that walks the earth. She is a warrior by heart, and she is unlike any other Kami. If she is killed then she revives as something immortal in a different body. She has been reborn so many times… she doesn't remember, but her soul calls for the slaughter…"

My eyes widened. "Slaughter, warrior, and _Kami_?"

"Tell me, have you ever heard of Zula?" Fran asked.

"Um-" She didn't even let me finish.

"Zula is a large underground city. Several people live there, and inside are two palaces. The beings residing in the palaces that despise each other. Every year they have a war that will decide who will be pushed into Hell first. If one army fails and withdraws, then the king, queen, prince, or princess is pushed into the door to Hell by the other lord."

_The Shi no Shi_. I would have said it aloud, but I didn't want to scare these people further. "So what does Zula have to do with this?"

"Zula has everything to do with this. Do you know what type of beings the Lords and Ladies live in both castles? Kami. And two feuding palaces full of them is bound to end up badly."

"That's not what she's asking. She wants to know about Roza." Sesshoumaru muttered for me.

"Roza is the name of the princess in the Hitoshirenu Palace." Said a woman taking a step towards Sesshoumaru. "If that was Roza, which I am very sure it was, then we just danced with a Kami and lost. She could have killed us if she wanted."

Mrs. Laurent stepped in again. "Roza is _very_ powerful. We've always known she was a great warrior. And now we know why she hasn't matured yet into an adult miko."

"What is Roza the Kami of?"

The same woman from before spoke, but this time it seemed like a little venom was laced into her voice. "She is the Stealer."

"Stealer?"

"She steals the power of the Kami she kills."

"What did you mean by slaughter?" I demanded.

Mrs. Laurent seemed to eat her lip she was chewing it so hard. "Roza's past lives… have left a scar on her soul forever. Remember she steals the powers of the Kami she kills? Well, her past lives went on rampages or just wanted to kill Kami. Thus, Roza will always have that little voice in her head that wants Kami blood."

"How do you know?" I asked rage filling me.

Why was I mad? What was happening to me?

And then I realized Roza was watching and listening through my eyes and ears.

"Roza's listening." I whispered. "She knows."

"_Tell them I am not evil." _Roza's voice whispered in my head.

"She's not evil." I murmured. "I need to go."

I left without a word or a glance but I kept my head high as people stared after me.

I left the well and collapsed onto my knees right beside it. Every time Roza had entered my body, I always felt drained of energy afterward.

"Do you need me to take you home?" Sesshoumaru asked getting out of the well.

I gave him a weak smile. "Do you think I can walk home?"

He shrugged and knelt down so I was looking him in the eye. "You know what we must do right?"

"Yes.

" I sighed. "Why is it that all of a sudden these things are being thrown down on me?"

"That I do not know."

I stood up, using about all the energy I had left. When I was back in Sesshoumaru's arms and in the sky, my face went slack, my breathing even, and I fell asleep.

_I was in a cave._

_It was dark._

_There were youkai waiting at the mouth of the cave._

_But I wasn't scared._

_Just sad._

_Because I was hurting my love._

_I struggled to keep my eyes open as the pain overwhelmed me once again. My breathing was labored because of the pierced lung. I knew my time was coming to leave but I couldn't help but try to live._

_Sesshoumaru knelt protectively in front of me with his sword drawn. His back was to me, so I couldn't see his face. I knew he was in pain, it radiated off his body like a fire on a cold night._

"_Sesshoumaru." I whispered, some blood coming into my mouth as I said this._

_He didn't look at me and I didn't want him to. "Kagome."_

"_I _failed_."_

"_You didn't fail."_

_I shook my head as much as I could. "I told you I wouldn't die because of a youkai or Dark Miko."_

"_You didn't fail me." He murmured. "Naraku cheats."_

Naraku_?_

"_Sesshoumaru, I want you to do me a favor." I whispered as I felt my end near._

"_Anything."_

"_Don't grieve me."_

_Sesshoumaru shook his head and turned towards me his face a cold mask. "I don't think I couldn't."_

"_Try."_

"_Is there anything else that might not be impossible?"_

"_Roza is probably dead by now… tell Inuyasha that I am sorry for his loss."_

_A glowing door neared me, and I smiled as Roza came in a misty form. She_ _held out her hand to me, and smiled sadly like she wanted to say something._

"_Please don't leave me." Sesshoumaru whispered, his eyes widening and fear breaking through his cold mask._

_I smiled at him and caressed his tense hand. "You cured me, you loved me, and I ask this one last favor. Promise me to find love and move on."_

"_Why does this Sesshoumaru mean so much to you?" He asked._

_Roza was looking at me with a more urgent look. "Hurry."_

"_Because I care, that's why. Goodbye my Sesshoumaru, we shall meet again… someday."_

_I grasped onto Roza's hand and she helped me out of my body and I watched as I – my physical - went limp. Sesshoumaru reached out and held my lifeless shell, holding me to his heart as a single tear streaked down his face._

"_He will be okay." Roza assured me._

_I nodded, but my non-beating heart gave a squeeze as Sesshoumaru got out his sword of healing and tried to bid it to work._

_The door came closer and I reached out for the handle._

"_Are you dead?" I asked._

"_Yes."_

"_Then why are you not on the other side?"_

"_Because we will be going separate ways and I wanted to see you one last time."_

"_You didn't kill Shi?"_

"_No, I knew what you had to do. I was only there for assistance." Roza murmured. "But we never made it there…"_

"_I have one last question."_

"_Yes?"_

"_Are you truly dead?"_

_There was a pause and then Roza said, "No."_

_I opened the door and I was consumed in light and I walked in to face the afterlife._

I woke up with a start as Sesshoumaru shook me.

"Hey Kagome we're here." He said.

I looked around. "Oh yeah."

My house was on the same property as a shrine and the Sacred Tree.

Sesshoumaru hovered by my window and I grasped onto the frame as he helped me inside.

"See you tomorrow." I muttered.

"Good night Kagome." He answered and disappeared.

I laid down on my bed and stared at the celling. "I don't think I can get sleep. Why would such a terrible dream like that be in my head?"

I wouldn't know for now but I was okay with that.

Roza had died and so had I. She came to visit me and help me get out of my body. I would miss her.

But that was just a dream.

One that seemed too real for my taste.

**A/N****- Another awesome Author's note from me lol. Anyways just to make this clear, Roza is **_**DEAD**_** in the dream who was just going to help Kagome out of her body. Any who, review and no flames! :D Oh and before I forget! Shi no Shi means Death of Death, I understand that. But I'm using that as a gateway name. Oh and Thank you CoS for bringing this story to life! And I will work on the POV I know I'm making it confusing.**


	3. The Sickness

**A/N – Okay first off, I am SO sorry for not updating since... well... FOREVER! My computer has been having some major issues and a few other major things have been taking place in my life. Just to let you know, I rewrote some things in the first chapter to make them have more sense... I think it was just one part about the human and True Miko souls being combined. Oh and I've been vague on the details of our fav dog demons ^_^', they have silver hair and gold eyes but no puppy dog ears (aw D:) and no stripes or crescent moon (my luffly Sesshy is stripless! T_T)**

**Chapter 3. Kagome's POV**

**x.O.x.O.x.**

The next day, I stayed home from school. Evidently during the night I had caught the flu and was bedridden. Yippee.

I laid in a bed of tissues and water bottles, I was to lazy to clean them up. I had a book in my hand called _The_ _Shadow's Love_. I was in chapter three when I heard a sharp sound of knuckles hitting glass.

I looked at my window, a pair of golden eyes stared back at me with a silent command for entrance. Sighing, I got up and marked my spot in my book. I walked over, opened the window and sat back down on my bed with a slight huff.

"Hey, Sesshoumaru," I greeted with a small wave of my hand.

"Hnn," He replied coldly.

I shrugged his attitude off and asked. "What are you here for?"

"This Sesshoumaru wishes to know when we shall be looking for Shi no Shi." He remarked.

I nodded slowly, but was really thinking; _This Sesshoumaru? When had that happened?_ "As soon as we have our research finished."

Sesshoumaru shuffled his feet on the windowsill a little then launched himself into the room. He landed elegantly on the carpet beside my bed. He glanced up to look around the room, and snorted.

"Original," He said with a small smirk, "By any chance have you done any of this 'research'?"

Shaking my head slowly, I decided not to voice my thoughts. A series of sneezes, wheezes and coughs shook my body then. I didn't try to hold them in because I knew it wouldn't help the matter. Sesshoumaru helped a little bit by giving me a few Kleenex from the box on my desk.

Once the coughing and sneezes subsided, I got off my bed. My vision was blurry along with my eyesight. "Oh kami, why the heck do I have to be the one to get sick?" I complained.

"Sit down, Kagome." Sesshoumaru commanded as he wrapped a hand around my elbow and forcing me to sit back down. "Clearly, you will be resting today while this Sesshoumaru research the information. This Sesshoumaru believe my 'dear' _half_-brother has something he could give you to make you better. He'll be over in about..." He sniffed the air somewhat daintily for a guy, "five minutes."

"Get out of my house you ice prick." I sighed, trying to joke around but not really getting my tone to get to that point.

"Hai, ma'am." He retorted, adding a salute to mock me further.

One moment he was there, the next he was gone. Jackass... Showing off bastard. Okay, maybe I did get a little jealous that he was _that_ fast.

Five minutes later, the ice prick was right, Inuyasha knocked on the front door of my house. My mom called up to me saying that he was here. Almost five seconds after that, the hanyou was sitting on my bed with something wrapped in red paper in his hands.

"Oi, wench." He greeted.

I sat up on the bed, sighing. "Hey, Inuyasha. What is a guy like you, that I _barely_ know, doing here?"

"Feh. The bastard told me everything, he thinks I could 'be of use'. His words, not mine." He replied, "So anyways, I brought you something to drink that should make you feel better."

With that, Inuyasha took off the red wrapping paper and a foul smelling odor took hold in the air. The source of the disgusting scent was a water bottle filled to the brim with a puke-brown liquid.

"That's so gross, it should have a warning label on it saying 'This might kill you just from smelling it, so back away.' or maybe, 'This looks like puke and so does the owner so please don't look them in the eye'." I commented.

Shaking his head quickly while bushes of red colored his face from being flustered, Inuyasha replied quickly. "Just drink it, wench."

"This is why I rejected you," I sighed and took the nasty liquid out of his hand and started to bring it to my lips. One whiff of the puke-colored 'medicine' was all it took for me to clamp two fingers over my nose and start chugging. It tasted worse than it looked. It was sort of like swallowing rotten eggs, sour milk and eggplant.

I must have been making a face because Inuyasha just had to make the comment, "Are you giving yourself a wedgie or are you sucking on a lemon?"

I grimaced. "Maybe I've been looking at your face for too long, it's making me sicker."

"Feh. Real funny." He sneered jokingly then heaved a long sigh, "Okay, wench, here's the deal. I gotta leave now, I'll do some research. When I'm gone, you're gonna to go to sleep. After you wake up in the middle of the night because of sensing the Red Moon which is when you're going to go out into the night, get some more information."

"Wow, for a moment there, you almost sounded not stupid." I replied, rolling my eyes.

"'Night, Gome."

"Thanks for the nickname, loser."

Inuyasha got off the bed and walked out of my room. I listened for his receding footsteps to get to the front porch before closing my eyes. Quite frankly, I was not tired. I was more awake then I had been all day.

"Night, Yasha." I muttered haughtily, a small smile on my lips. Maybe, just maybe, Inuyasha and I could be friends. Nothing more though.

**x.O.x.O.x.**

That night, I had a dream. A very, very short dream.

_Dew covered the ground, chilling the parts of my body not covered in clothes. My face was red and gleamed with sweat. My body wouldn't stay at the same temperature for more than ten minutes. A sigh escaped my mouth, I was tired._

_I knew I couldn't go to sleep. Someone would find me. So here I sat, hoping for a savior._

_Bushes rustled and a branch cracked somewhere in the woods, not to far from the forest line but not even close to where I was. Soon I would have to leave._

_I closed my eyes so I could rest for a little bit._

_An hour later... they were still closed._

A pulse swept through my body, like something was trying to awaken in me. I waited a moment, hoping it was just a feeling. Then it happened again. And again.

I opened my eyes, the pulsing stopped, and looked to the moon. It was blood red. Even in my human form I could still feel the Red Moon's call.

Jumping off the bed, I quickly started running down the hall to the stairs. Then, taking two steps at a time, I descended to the floor on the staircase. Once my feet were firmly on the ground, I ran around the house to find my shoes.

Finally, I was able to go outside. The first few things I noticed was that it was surprisingly warm, also there was almost no auras of youkai or miko in the area.

"So... I'm alone for tonight," I breathed quietly.

I scanned the area to look for something even though I was not sure what I was even looking for. My pink bike stood against the side of the well shrine and a thought ran through my head, I could use the bike to get places quicker.

Running over to said bike and taking hold of the handle bars while I walked it down the stairs, I stared blankly at my feet. Ideas was what I was aiming for in my thoughts, but none came to mind.

_If only Jolietai were here..._ I thought with a sigh. Recalling what I had seen from the dream, I finally noticed that some of the trees had a dark colored wood and dipping branches with white blossoms. I remembered those trees, my friends and I had once gone there because Sango said she trained there sometimes and that the place was beautiful.

Soon, I was speeding through town on my bike, on the way to the woods. Within fifteen minutes, I was setting my bike on the ground and running into the woods. I couldn't yell out Roza's name because I knew that would give away her position to whoever was following her.

I kept running straight then took a left, the foliage getting thicker and thicker. A clearing was ahead, I could tell because there was getting to be more and more of the Moon's light shinning through the tangled branches above my head.

The same trees from before came into sight. Moonlight illuminated the grass and turned the half-way closed buds on the trees a light red color. Everything was the same from the dream, save for the woman I needed to see.

"Roza... was I too late?" I whispered.

Something warm – too warm – was slapped on my mouth and dragged me into the trees' protection. Fear washed through me as I tried to break free of the person's hold. My captor knelled to the ground, which in turn, made me kneel too. A shriek threaten to leave my lips, I felt it bubble up my throat.

"Don't scream," the person behind me whispered with a cool tone.

The urge to scream disappeared, along with the one in my throat. The person behind me released their hold on me. I turned around and started to scoot away from said person, when I finally looked at the face of the person.

Holding a hand over her face that was as red as a tomato, Roza started coughing. They were dainty little coughs that morphed into something stronger and congested.

"Roza," I moved towards her and grabbed her arm, "You can't stay out here while your sick. There's so many things that could get you... Don't you have a place to go?"

She shook her head, trying to talk between coughs. "N-No... I haven't been in a human body for so long... I don't... remember... well."

As the coughing subsided, I placed my hand on her head and muttered a curse as I felt enough heat to fry a egg on her head. "We need to get you somewhere else... Someone's coming but I don't know when."

"Hai." Was the reply.

I thought for a moment then moved her arm away from her face so she would have to look at me. "I have an idea, but I need your help. If we can combine bodies again so we can become Branzy, I could get you somewhere safer."

"It's a good idea," She muttered, "I need you to hold me in your arms as tight as you can – or hug as you people say now-a-days. Because we both have some kind of connection to spiritual energy we might be able to link. I am too week to do a distance connection, even if your that close. I need you to think of the being we will be when we are combined."

Wrapping my arms around Roza's petite frame, I started to hug her with all my might (without trying to squeeze her to death of course). I closed my eyes to concentrate, picturing Branzy.

A throb of blue energy pulsed through me, I felt my body go numb. Ten seconds later, my body was able to feel again, this time my senses and body were ten fold stronger.

Roza/I stood up and started running. The sickness Roza had been feeling seemed to have numbed because her voice kept whispering about the pain being gone.

Bounding out of the woods, I picked up my bike and extended my aurora. A dim light tickled the edges of said aurora, whoever had been after Roza was long gone.

I started running towards my house with my bike in my hand and arrived in about three minutes. Settling my bike against the old well shrine then walking back into my house, I went straight to my room.

"_Roza, we must part now,"_ I mentally told her.

She replied, _"Give me a moment to regain my standings on how to remove myself from you again."_

In a burst of azure, Roza sat on my bed. She brought her hand to her head once again. "I regret coming out now."

I smiled down at her. "I'll get you something to eat. Medicine, too – if we have some."

I ran down the stairs and collected some tea, ibuprofen, and soup (in a cup) from the kitchen. Then, I brought them upstairs and set them on my computer desk.

"I need you to sit up," I murmured gently to woman laying on my bed.

Using her hands to push her up, Roza settled into a somewhat sitting position against the head board of the bed. I handed her the soup cup first, which she took gingerly. Sipping daintily at the red-colored liquid, she began to eat. I noticed something then, every time I got close to her body, a faint purple glow would come from her right arm and knee.

"Finish it all off so you'll have something in your stomach when you take the medicine." I commanded her.

She nodded. "Alright."

"Um..." I started slowly, "I was wondering... how did you get sick? Isn't it, like, impossible to get sick from being a True Miko?"

"It would be impossible – if it weren't for the fact I am a ningen. When I separated from your body, I became the real me... half-real me, I mean. My body being the way it is, the way I was sleeping outside and the bond between us, it made me able to catch a illness quickly." She explained.

Nodding, I understood what she said perfectly. "So because I was sick, it made you sick too?"

"Er... Just a little." She replied.

Roza handed me the now empty cup of soup and I handed her the tea and ibuprofen next. She blew on the hot tea and took a few sips before putting the pills in her mouth.

"Hey... What's with the glowing skin?" I inquired.

She glanced down at her skin then looked back at me. "I believe... It's jewel shards. They must have gone into this body with me."

"Jewel shards?" I muttered, that was a new one.

She nodded, finishing off her tea and handed the empty cup to me. "Hai, Shikon Jewel shards."

I put said cup on the desk and turned back to her. "Shikon Jewel _shards_? I think I've heard about that before... Ojiisan (Grandpa) told me about that before. Isn't it a jewel from Feudal Japan that a wish could be made on and granted? I heard that it broke into a hundred pieces and a priestess, hanyou, youkai, tajiya and houshi had to find them. He told me it disappeared five-hundred years ago because the correct wish had been made on it by a priestess. Oh and something else about a evil man named Naraku whom tried to taint the jewel."

"Almost correct," She murmured, her voice getting weaker as sleep swept over her, "The Shikon Jewel is back... and it's broken again. I made the wrong wish. Hmm... Am I the only on who thinks they look a little tainted...?"

Glancing down, I noticed how the shards' color seemed darker. "I could try to take them out of you... then you can sleep, but I'm going to need more answers when you wake up."

"It's the least you can do..." She muttered, her body going slack onto the mattress, "I did take your illness into my body."

_Funny_, I thought as I finally noticed that I didn't feel sick anymore,_ how you don't realize something until someone points it out._ I grasped Roza's limp right arm, the dull purple turning a brilliant pink in an instant as the jewel worked it's way out of the woman's arm to get closer to the warm aurora of Kagome's miko powers had. The jewel in her leg also purified, but having less of said power, didn't escape Roza's skin. After grabbing the first shard, I moved down to that one and pressed my hands to the place the skin sported the shard, then little burst of mike purification, the shard was in my hand.

By the time I was finished, Roza was deep asleep and snoring. I turned around and picked up the small, empty jar on my desk I used to hold paperclips. Putting the jewel shards inside said jar, I set it under the pillow Roza's head rested on.

"Goodnight, Roza." I muttered sleepily.

_Where am I going to sleep?_ I thought suddenly, bringing my hand up to stifle a groan.

**x.O.x.O.x.**

The next day I had a very stiff neck because I had slept on the floor in my bedroom. The _floor_! At least I wasn't sick anymore.

First thing I did in the morning was turn towards my ex-soul part sleeping on my bed. The black-haired woman on my bed was _still _sleeping. I crawled towards her and put my hand on her forehead, her temperature still felt high but not as bad as before.

I picked up my clock and looked at it, then did a double take. It was 7:30 and I had to be to school by eight. Skipping steps as I went down the stairs, I grabbed some bread for both Roza and me. Then ran back up the stairs, eating my bread, and threw the other bread onto my nightstand then went into the bathroom to get a shower.

Ten minutes later, I was showered, hair blow dried and some make-up on. Three minutes after that, I had my clothes on and was out the door. When I finally reached the school with just a couple of people tagging along (because everyone else had left in fear of being late for school), the people were already going inside.

Rushing towards the entrance of the school, I failed to notice the hanyou walking beside me. It wasn't till he said something that I noticed him.

"Oi," He said loudly.

My head shot up in his direction, at first I was confused from having my mind taken off the task of getting into the school without being squished, but then I smiled. "Hey, Inuyasha. Arigato for the medicine last night. I feel good as new!"

He nodded and replied gruffly, "No problem."

I looked around suddenly, remembering the elder brother that normally walked into the school with Inuyasha. "Where's Sesshoumaru?" I asked while walking past the school's entrance doorway.

"You mean the pole-up-the-ass guy? He's skippin' school today. Said he needed to 'think' and 'research'. Which, speaking of that, I found somethin' interesting. But since we're already inside and gotta go get our junk to go to class... meet me after school. I'll take you to ice lord's and my place. If your mom asks just say we're studying."

"Okay," I replied and parted ways with the silver-haired boy to go towards my locker.

When I went to my homeroom, everything was usual. People talked to me like there was no tomorrow and I responded as happily as I could. Surprisingly, Sango was the one doing the most talking, she kept going on and on about the Prada sale. I talked to her with real smiles and happiness.

The teacher finally entered the room a few minutes later and soon that class was over. A little voice in the back of my head kept worrying me about Roza. That voice got louder and louder as more and more classes went by.

When lunch time came, said voice was shouting. I sat in my normal spot in the cafeteria, eating whatever was on the menu (I could no longer recognize the mush). To my surprise, Inuyasha joined me but didn't say much to me. It's not like he didn't want to, it was the fact that the girls and even a few guys were talking to _him_ more then me. Which, in fact, I didn't mind at all.

A familiar silence reached my ears while I sat oblivious to the world. I blinked and looked around me. Everyone was frozen, except me of course, even Inuyasha. That surprised me the most. His brother could move in Red Time but he couldn't.

I made myself as small as possible when I got up slowly, making sure not to brush anyone with my clothes or body. Then, walked over to Inuyasha and placed a hand firmly on his shoulder. It took a few moments, but the waxiness disappeared from his body.

"So that's when -" He continued whatever he had been saying before he had been frozen. "Huh?"

"Don't move too much," I commanded. "If you move even a inch to your left or right you will return the people to their natural form and they'll freak out which will make me have to do something I really don't want to do."

Inuyasha examined his surroundings then got up just as slowly as I had. At least a minute had passed before he stood beside me, staring at the waxy figures.

"So... they can't move _and_ they can't see us?" He inquired.

I nodded. "Yup."

He glanced at me, then gingerly lifted his wrist to take off a bracelet I had never noticed before. Suddenly, he got taller and a _lot _more muscular. But besides that, on the top of his head was the most adorable set of puppy-dog ears I had ever seen.

"_KAWAII_!" I screeched then grabbed his ears to feel them. "So soft..." I whispered.

The inu's face was hilarious; somewhere between a 'are you kidding me' expression, and a blushing school girl. "Oi, wench! Hands off the ears."

Those words stabbed me and I deflated. "So... kawaii... though..." I muttered while picturing myself with a big red arrow with the words he said puncturing my chest.

"Feh." He said, still blushing.

I grinned then, enjoying the way his ears twitched ever so slightly when I looked at him. "Okay, I'm going to go visit my house. So go be constructive with your time. And that does not mean waking everyone up!"

"Okay, then." He responded.

Brow raised, I walked to the front door of the school and then walked home. Once I was there, I went to my room.

"R-Roza?" I said in shock. In front of me, was a empty bed.

I started searching all around the house in disbelief. There was no way Roza would just bolt on me! Everywhere I went came up empty until I found myself slumped on the floor beside the door leading into Souta's room.

"She's crazy. I'm so going to kill her next chance I get." I muttered to myself with a deep sigh before getting up. "Where haven't I checked yet?"

There was one place... but was it possible? Why would she even be there? Especially this long? But just maybe...

I walked over to the door at the end of the hall, my hand hesitating before twisting the knob. Laying in the bathtub in the bathroom, was a very naked Roza. Her eyes were closed so I could only guess she was asleep.

"Eek!" I screeched, covering my eyes with my petite hands. "That's just wrong! Why, why me?"

Stepping out of the room, I shut the door with a loud bang and there was a sound of water moving quickly then footsteps inside the bathroom. By now, I was curled in a ball in the middle of the hallway murmuring to myself 'I will not be mentally scarred, I will not be mentally scarred.'. Maybe three minutes later, a (thank god) dressed Roza stepped out of the bathroom.

She jumped back in surprise when she seen me. "Oh kami, oh it's just you, Kagome."

I stood up then, my body still swinging back and forth like I was still in the tight little ball. "Oh so it's _just _me now, huh? Miss, you just mentally scarred me for life so I think you should talk to me with more respect." I joked.

She blushed then. "Um... This is awkward..."

"Ya think? Hey, you hungry? I can make you something to eat. Like ramen or something."

"Yeah a little... How about some toast? I've been craving that since you left that bread on the nightstand."

"Sure. Hey, you feelin' better?"

"Much."

I didn't know much about how to take care of sick people, but I did know that they were supposed to eat toned down foods after being sick for a while. Would toast be okay?

"Do you want butter or anything on it?" I asked.

"Sure, butter and jam sounds good." She replied.

I went down the stairs and put some toast in the toaster, then got the butter and grape jelly out of the refrigerator. Once the toast was ready, I spread said jelly and butter over is thinly.

I, then, brought it upstairs for Roza who was now in my bedroom rummaging through my dresser.

She turned to me, holding one of my shirts in her hand. She sheepishly smiled and put it away. "Um... sorry. Last time I was human was when I was a teenager... so I kinda have this thing for wanting to look good all the time. Plus, I really wanted to know what people wear these days. But, I didn't realize they let little kids wearing this kind of underwear." She then folded my shirt neatly and put it back in the dresser before pulling out a bright red thong my friends had given to me as a joke on my birthday last year.

I blushed then ran over and snatched the thong from her hand and threw it back in the drawer. Then slammed the drawer shut and handed Roza the toast.

"Eat it and never speak of this again, baka." I demanded.

She nodded quickly, backing away to sit at my desk. "At least now we are even. I mentally scarred you, you mentally scarred me." She muttered between bites of food.

I face-palmed then, just so someone in the world wouldn't have to do it for me. "Wow..."

"I know right!" She beamed.

"You," I said, pointing a finger at her, "are the most childlike adult I have ever met."

"Isn't it great?"

"... Don't make me respond..."


End file.
